“The ConnectED initiative President Obama announced today could provide a boost for distance-learning and for those schools and libraries that have lacked access to the bandwidth needed to serve their students and community members. Community-based telecommunications providers, such as the telcos in NTCA’s membership, already have a long track record of working with rural schools and libraries in their own backyards to meet evolving communications needs, and the experience they have gained from deploying high-quality, high-capacity networks to the vast majority of anchor institutions in their serving areas should serve as a road map for this new program. As the FCC moves forward with implementation of the President’s initiative, I strongly urge the agency to make sure to leverage both the existing broadband infrastructure and the expertise in rural communities, and to build upon the hard work of these entrepreneurial communications providers and the mechanisms that already support our national universal service objectives.”

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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing nearly 900 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America. NTCA advocates on behalf of its members in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and it provides training and development; publications and industry events; and an array of employee benefit programs. In an era of exploding technology, deregulation and marketplace competition, NTCA’s members are leading the IP evolution for rural consumers, delivering technologies that make rural communities vibrant places in which to live and do business. Because of their efforts, rural America is fertile ground for innovation in economic development and commerce, education, health care, government services, security and smart energy use. Visit us at www.ntca.org.